Stock Traders Purchase High Volume of Knight-Swift Transportation Call Options (NYSE:KNX)

Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. (NYSE:KNX) saw some unusual options trading activity on Wednesday. Stock traders acquired 4,036 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 131% compared to the typical volume of 1,750 call options.

Knight-Swift Transportation Price Performance

Shares of KNX stock traded up $1.37 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $56.33. The company had a trading volume of 411,784 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,593,034. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 244.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 0.98. Knight-Swift Transportation has a 52 week low of $45.55 and a 52 week high of $60.99. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $55.55 and its two-hundred day moving average is $53.15.

Knight-Swift Transportation (NYSE:KNX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The transportation company reported $0.34 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.32 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.91 billion. Knight-Swift Transportation had a return on equity of 1.81% and a net margin of 0.50%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.41 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Knight-Swift Transportation will post 1.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Knight-Swift Transportation Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th were issued a dividend of $0.16 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 6th. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.14%. Knight-Swift Transportation’s dividend payout ratio is presently 278.26%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently issued reports on the stock. TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from $55.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Bank of America cut their price target on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from $64.00 to $61.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Susquehanna raised shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from a “neutral” rating to a “positive” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $48.00 to $67.00 in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Raymond James boosted their price target on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Knight-Swift Transportation from $45.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Knight-Swift Transportation currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $58.44.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Ploeg David Vander sold 500 shares of Knight-Swift Transportation stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.10, for a total value of $28,550.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 30,729 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,754,625.90. This trade represents a 1.60 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Chairman Kevin P. Knight sold 29,779 shares of Knight-Swift Transportation stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.19, for a total transaction of $1,703,061.01. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 3.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Knight-Swift Transportation

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG bought a new position in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation during the third quarter valued at $3,729,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Knight-Swift Transportation by 2.4% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,146,948 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $61,878,000 after acquiring an additional 26,346 shares during the period. Jane Street Group LLC grew its holdings in Knight-Swift Transportation by 30.9% during the third quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 69,907 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $3,771,000 after acquiring an additional 16,500 shares during the period. Paloma Partners Management Co grew its holdings in Knight-Swift Transportation by 681.6% in the third quarter. Paloma Partners Management Co now owns 60,000 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $3,237,000 after purchasing an additional 52,323 shares during the period. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its holdings in Knight-Swift Transportation by 116.1% in the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 130,794 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $7,056,000 after purchasing an additional 70,276 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 88.77% of the company’s stock.

About Knight-Swift Transportation

Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides freight transportation services in the United States and Mexico. The company operates through four segments: Truckload, Less-than-truckload (LTL), Logistics, and Intermodal. The Truckload segment provides transportation services, which include irregular route and dedicated, refrigerated, expedited, flatbed, and cross-border operations.